"Where better to care for the soul than in the details of our daily lives?....The soul has an absolute, unforgiving need for regular excursions into enchantment. It requires them like the body needs food and the mind needs thought... An enchanted world is one that speaks to the soul, to the mysterious depths of the heart and imagination where we find value, love and union with the world around us. As mystics of many religions have taught, that sense of rapturous union can give a sense of fulfillment that makes life purposeful and vibrant."
~ Thomas Moore.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Please forgive the lack of poetics and lyrics in this post, but I seem to be exhausted, but I want to get this out.

I've been trying, for years, far too long, to store greens in the refrigerator. Turns out, greens should not be stored, but consumed fresh. I know this, but when you can't pick them and eat them, we must do what this century has arranged for us....buy them and store them. I finally dedicated some time to experimenting and finding out what works better than what I'd been doing, which was basically just putting the ORGANIC greens in the fridge straight from the grocery bag. Now that I'm juicing seriously and often, I need a better system, because I'm buying much more greens, and they need to stay plump and crisp for the juicer to extract juice.
I googled and found some suggestions and I tried this one. It is working so far, but there are no greens that can do well stored for more than 4-5 days. Nothing is fresh after that. Herbs can stay a bit longer when they are cut at their stems and put into water with a plastic bag over the green part, not pretty but the lasting power is what I'm after. This is working, but only as long as I keep each herb in their own glass. They don't like to share 'their' space for some reason. I get it, fine with me.
The basil is one that I can keep outside. In fact, the basil I can keep in a jar outside just like fresh cut greens, and I like pinching off the leaves as I need them. I try to find basil with roots still attached, as these do best in water, and when I'm done with it, I plant it out in the Herb Garden. I've grown more basil this way, very cool.

So this is what I've been doing. Please excuse the old towels, they're clean, just old.
I rinsed all the greens and laid them on a large towel to take out as much water as possible.
I didn't know until this day that the two bins in the bottom of the refrigerator were two different settings, one for high humidity and one for low. How interesting. I decided the high humidity was best for the greens, and the low for the potatoes. I'm rearranging how I store potatoes too, and onions as well. Some space needs to be created in the tiny kitchen before I can leave them out for storing.
Back to the greens.....after cutting them, rinsing them and leaving them on the towel, I put all of them into the bin, loose, on top of a towel I laid down on the bottom. I spritzed them with colloidal silver (great stuff), and then laid paper towel on top to absorb the large moisture drops, but then another towel on top of that to keep the moisture in....get it? Paper towels to absorb the drops on the leaves themselves so they don't sit with the water, but the towel to keep the moisture in the bin. This is the old towel on the bottom.

These are the mixed greens, all rinsed and cut up ready for juicing, on the towel to soak up water drops.

then I added them to the bin, spritzed with colloidal silver which I keep in a spray bottle on my counter, now they are ready to be grabbed for juicing, or sauteing, whatever I'm going to do.

Then paper towel over that, then a towel on top to keep the bin in high humidity.

So far, for weeks now, this system is keeping my greens crisp, and moist for juicing.
I should tell you about juicing....I've been juicing on and off for over 30 years. I decided to do so again, well for many reasons. Also my roommate had cancer and I fully believe in the Medicine of Nature to cure all ills. So I began juicing ''for myself'' but gave him the ''extra'' juice. He began to like it and I'll tell you why.
I have juiced so much over the years that the flavor of the chlorophyll from the greens, would get to me sometimes, and I just didn't want to drink it. Its extremely powerful stuff. I had to find a way, there is always a way. I believe in SOLUTIONS in Life, always. I found it. I used what I had one day and it was the magic remedy. Of all the citrus fruits, lemon is the only one you can juice with skin and all. Do NOT try this with the other citrus fruits they are far too bitter and you may croak. Only lemon can be juiced entirely skin and all, and be divine. I use it all the time because it is so delish! and it is also excellent for alkalizing too.

So here is the recipe for 2 glasses or 2 people, ALL ORGANIC PLEASE: 2 apples, 2 lemons, 2 beets, huge handfuls of ORGANIC dark greens, one cucumber. I juice the lemons first so I can catch the rind and put them into the container to be drunk. I don't waste this part as it is the part which adds so much flavor, much more so than the juice, it is the peel and rind. After juicing the lemon, catching the rind and adding it back into the drinking part, I juice the apples, the beets, the greens, then the cucumbers last as they clean out the filter. Mix and drink, this will taste mostly like lemon even if it is really red in color from the beets. I love this, it is delish, and even ''mickey likes it''....that would be the roommate. He says, that he's noticed an increase in energy, but mostly his attitude has improved, he doesn't feel so depressed. This last statement is the statement of the century, for someone to be able to say that is HUGE...especially for roommate John.....this IS huge for him to have improvement in attitude. Yes juicing can do that for you.......if it did it for him, it will for anyone.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

It has happened again.
Has this ever happened to you? You're going along just fine, creative juices flowing, things coming together, results pleasurable and creativity continues.....you go on for months thinking you could live like this for a lifetime. Then something happens, you don't know what, you have no clue even if you scan your entire horizon, there is no explanation for the sudden drop, fall, to your knees. No creativity, you don't even want to think about it, you feel exhausted, and food and other pleasures lose their joy. You think, ok, its just a phase, I'll get out of it in a day or so. When it goes on for weeks, you start to be concerned.
This is what has been happening to me, for me? for weeks now. I have no idea what happened. I was on a new platform and then something just happened and I found myself stagnant.

Today was no exception. Except today I found a relief.....it was, from nothing less than the panacea for all life, the music of the Mother's creatures.
I prayed for release, I begged for relief. Nothing. I got online to my beloved women bloggers for inspiration and saw beautiful things, but they were not mine.....in other words, I was not part of the creative beauty and this was not me. I'm known for being creative and inventive, always creating beauty. This stuck place is no place for me. So browsing through blogland, and seeing such beauty and grand feelings being expressed was making me smile for them, I love to see others happy. But I was finding myself still in a gray place once back to my self.
I went out to the front porch and begonia flowers were everywhere and I decided to sweep. The winds blew them back in. I could not even lose patience. I simply froze in place and waited for the winds to stop, then continued. They blew back in what I swept, I froze again, then swept again.....again winds, again I froze. I was not going to lose it. I was already too long in grayland. I needed to move my mind into the zone. I did.
I asked Spirit......''what do I need''....and I think I heard, ''you need to cleanse''......for me, this means, purifiying, sauna, sweating, water, juicing, and light thoughts. I am taking detoxifying herbs right now and maybe they're working on a very deep layer of my cells bringing to the fore something I didn't know was there. It's possible. Only I can't take it. I decided to let go, abandon the creative creatrix for now, and focus on my Self, and cleanse.
I finished sweeping......I did....and all the begonia and bougainvillea flowers went out and the porch is clear for a while.

I went straight to my room and changed to use my far infrared sauna instead of going into the sun because its late in the day and I wanted quick heat and walls.....walls for a cave like and cozy feeling. I needed the lap of the Mother.
I have a CD in my sauna that I keep for mind therapy while using it.....and it worked. Very often, I forget what I need....very often we all do....and often not ever realize what we need because we've never had it. Some have it and know it when they need it.....some need for example to return to the forest to revive their spirits.....or the open plains, wherever the landscapes have nurtured them in the past.

I'm speaking of the healing sounds of the Mother's creatures, in this case the sounds of whale song. I find their sounds and songs to be one of the most wonderfully soothing and calming, grounding and civilized sounds on this planet. My CD went on, I heard the whales, and soon I was breathing.....deep sigh-ful breathing.....the breath that releases......the breath that cleanses......the breath that soothes and relieves the body/mind of troubles both known and unknown.

All these weeks something has been ailing me, and I don't know what.....but I also didn't know what I needed. Knowing what one needs often can tell you what is ailing you. In this case I realized.....as I sat purifying in my Temple/Sauna, cleansing and sweating away toxins, and heating up, stimulating all my glands to perform and assist them in doing all beneficial things for me.......I realized.....that I had been far too much in a creative mode, in a forced imaginative process.....and this is taxing to ones spirit. My spirit became exhausted from performing for months.....it needed respite, rejuvenation and inspiration. This always comes from Nature. I however, was not engaging Nature in my process of creationing.....and I suffered for it, and fell.
Now I needed Her medicine. And it comes.....to me in whale song.....the soothing expansive sounds of timelessness. I listened, I was soothed. I was given Grace......the divine kind.

What I realized is that I was being too provincial in my thinking and processes, not taking the Spirit with me, which has its own way of functioning into the whole. I was forcing the creative process selfishly. I suffered for it.
I realize now that my spirit needed to be free.....of me.....to gather its own inspiration in its own way. It needed to fly with the birds, to feel the winds through my feathers...with them. I needed to scan the horizons with eyes high up. I needed to soar past landscapes at great speed with great calm.

I needed to swim in the abyss and depths of the massive ocean with the mighty whales to be rocked by their eternal and timeless songs. I needed Nature with me.
Who am I on my own? I am only something divine with the whole.....with the Mother, with Nature.....when all are included in everything I do. I am sorry I left them out. I am sorry.

I realized I was trying to do amazing things alone. It doesn't work, not for me.

I have cleansed released, and now I shall soak and take in....soak in the heavenly salted waters. I shall soak in sea salts and epsoms, to rejuvnate, remineralize, and re electrify my self. I will feel better. I do already. I am about to enter the bath which is already drawn, hot and salted. I have faith in the salt of the Earth.

''The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.'' ~ Isak Dinesen..

In this day, it is all......sweat to cleanse, the salt to purify, and tears....will have to come later when relief has taken over this body, mind and soul.

I love tea. Especially when I have it with others. For me Tea is more of a special time, than something I drink. It is the panacea from Mother Nature that bonds a certain amount of time given to people to share it either with the tea itself or the person drinking with you.

Tea also speaks to me, it speaks of its Medicine, its friendship, its comforting Nature. It is at these times especially when the Medicine of Our Mother is consciously registered.

"Gathering Flowers'' by John William Waterhouse

I love to make a ritual of Tea Time, it is Sacred Time spent with Another sharing what I've come to call Soul Speak....because the Tea invites ones body to relax, mind to calm, and soul to open....the speaking then is from the Soul....it is real, authentic, honest and expressive.
I have Tea Time with my neighbor when she has time, or needs this Sacred Medicine......
and here we had the beginnings of Tea Time coming together.

We each have our own pots we prefer, hers is a plunger type tea/coffee maker which eventually had to be replaced with a larger one LOL, and mine is a glass teapot.
We like the glass because it allows us to watch as the tea sighs deeply, as it wakes up from its parched state eagerly awaiting its soul's mate, water. Then it seems to do an exultant and languid dance as its newly moisturized leaves unwinds, expands to a moist and giving pleasure.
This is especially beautiful when rose buds are mixed into the tea.

We like to choose our tea based on our current moods.....I put out our choices, we sniff and choose.
Most often it is Orange Blossom Tea by Rishi ....a beautiful mix of lemongrass, orange blossom.

We have a little pot of Orange Blossom Honey and simple sugar for sweetening. Our personal tea spoons are Japanese Wood and the spoon rests are river rocks. We have decided clear glass is best to drink our beautiful Tea for we can still observe the tea in the glass, its gorgeous golden color and amber hues, ....no beauty is left out. The sea scalloped clear glasses are always our choice.

Sometimes, I have tea for one and often this choice is for Moroccan Mint Tea. This is a beautiful ritual I do for myself when I need alot of hot nurturing from this tea....it is both soothing and energizing. I use a whole bunch of fresh mint, a dash of gunpowder tea. Sometimes I add lavender blossoms at the end for that exquisite taste, but mostly the mint is beautiful and perfect enough on its own. It has lasted as a ritual and tradition of the East for thousands of years for good reason. I have an authentic Moroccan Mint Tea pot which I serve in Persian Tea Glass rimmed with 24K gold. This is luxurious tea in so many ways.
I can drink the entire pot though it takes me half the day. It is also perfect cooled and even the next day.
On this day I happen to have some of my own Linzer Cookies made. These are such a gorgeous decadence!

Sometimes the gardens herbs speak to me, want to be with me..... in me, intimately.....I know then its time to make a garden herbal tea. I can pick some lemon grass, sage, and whatever is exuding it's vibrancy. Then I mix them right into the tea pot.........

add the hot water, and see what messages unravel for me, what Medicine soothes me. Usually the garden knows what we need and will ''speak'' to us if we walk through listening, and when we do, we are always rewarded with their Gifts. I add a bit of local honey to sweeten...... and listen further, deeper to the herbs to ''hear'' their messages. Always they have wisdom to share, even if it is unspoken wisdom but a gift of calm and serenity, grace and detachment....the Beauty and Presence of Our Mother.

I am sensitive and tuned to Mother so I hear and taste what She has to offer and She has taught me, is still teaching me so much. What a richness of life and experience She has taught me. It is why I have so many gifts to offer, why I possess so much.....it is all from Her. Teas are the green medicines from Her body, Water from Her body.....these are all the gifts of the Great Mother who sustains us all.

My Moroccan Tea Pot stays on the table with their glasses....they are so beautiful to me....

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Ok Pammie, here it is. I'd like to pour out my heart and soul but I don't have the energy to type out a book here, ya know?? This is why they invented skype....its easy....as you know.....HINT HINT HINT.
oh crikey, I just saw that you called me.....sorry! I must have been out in the yard. Shall we schedule ?

I've been taking more pictures for you because I knew it was time and I'd be hearing from you. It's more fun taking them for you than I'd believed as I mentioned before. I can take pics of silly things, and you will understand lol......

Everything is getting more beautiful now Pammie, ever since I decided to make this house my home. Even roommate John is getting better! I'm juicing for him and the oxygen/herb pills are working for him like a charm, he even ordered more! I cannot take the pills, its like drinking coffee......but the Good Lord knew they'd be good for him in the long run. He's no longer gaunt and out of energy all the time....and not depressed and morose either. I've actually heard him say when I ask how he feels....that he feels 'good'.....never heard that in 9 years! I feel kind of liberated a bit to engage more now in my own creativity. He seems to be on the mend.

Yesterday I sat down at the sewing machine which I can only set up on the kitchen table for now, and I could see out of the living room window at the late afternoon sun, and it was gorgeous! my begonias are blooming and beautiful. The kitchen window views are all beautiful....of course I've worked on this aspect too....and the back door view was gorgeous too....I found myself, literally.....surrounded by beauty......and was only then.....free to begin sewing.
I'm working on everything Pammie, the gardens, the house, my self, my hair, my foods, my utensils, everything. If its not beautiful and inspirational, it goes. But I'm working most of the time on my environment and its paying off. I'm starting to feel beautiful again here and there. I'm working on a new habit first thing in the morning.....to go to the mirror, make my hair beautiful with flowers etc, to dress appropriate for the mood, then begin doing things. I forget often though and walk straight outside to see the gardens.....but this piece of making myself beautiful first and foremost is the definitive setting for the day. If I don't do it, I suffer. Today was a good one.

I'm frustrated right now I don't understand why I cannot be entrenched in making all the clothes I'd planned on. But when I look around I realize the fabrics I want are not here, and that could be a good reason, because I'm not settling or making anything less than perfect.....no more compromising on quality, the fabric is everything. I do have some nice cottons and linens but they're not inspiring me....the gauzy linens are what drive me nuts with creative inspirations, and I wish I had the $$ to buy them. It's making me kind of sick this stuckness.....but on to other things.

I sat down yesterday to make my first simple piece, but I did want to start off sewing something really simple to get back into the feel of it, like I used to. But you know? I discovered something interesting about myself.....what I thought was procrastination, god forbid! I realized was something else entirely. I kept finding things to do, setting up, making sure I have ALL the materials I need (not!) before beginning, cleaned, organized etc....and I thought I was procrastinating. I read a comment on the magazine Where Women Create and it spoke of me and my ''dilemma" and I realized there is nothing wrong with me ~! :
http://www.wherewomencreate.com/about/ABOUT US:
''Whether it’s art, music, written works, or choreographed dances, extraordinary women know that the process of creating is as important as what ultimately gets created. That is why extraordinary women pay attention to the details of their work spaces… making sure that they surround themselves with visually stimulating inspiration and unique organizational systems. WHERE WOMEN CREATE invites you into the creative spaces of the most extraordinary women of our time. Through stunning photography and inspirational stories, each issue of this quarterly magazine will nourish souls and motivate creative processes.'' ~end quote.

So with that I saw that there is a 'PROCESS', because this new venture of mine is not just some distraction or to keep busy or anything like that, but a lifestyle I'm setting up for my authentic self and that this ''process'' of ''attention to detail of the workspace''......I'm in the midst of it. I realized there was a reason for all that I was doing and it was not procrastination as I kept finding things that needed to be done ''first''....and though not possible I wanted all the materials I could possibly need first before I sit to create.....that I wanted to have my entire living place completely organized and beautifully inspiring......I realized all this was really the ''prep''' before beginning my venture, of coaxing out my Inner Muse....making it inviting for her to come out and play.....that I was preparing a sacred space for her Sacred Highness, so she would want to be present with me in the material world.... to create! This is no small task! Preparing for Her involved a fastidious attention to everything being in place, so that then the soul can wander, envision, then return and manipulate all the collected materials into ''the vision''. This is what I truly want, deeply and completely.

I want to make all my own clothes finally, since I'm 14 I've wanted to do this but never did thinking the material world was so superficial....but now, engaging in this aspect is keeping me sane.....unless I get frustrated. ;S
But this line of clothes from Les Ours D'Uzes is what I'd love to make and wear. I cannot afford them or the others, so I must make them....but Les Ours has my heart in their French country clothing line, and the linen gauze fabrics is what I need and love the most.
Today I almost gave in to desperation when I got your card that said ''NEVER STOP CREATING''....and I know I'm on the right path and I wont give up. phew!

Ok. then on to pics now.....there's alot here and this is not all of them......I love you dearly.

My tea for one....I made a Moroccan Mint tea and this pot gets very hot. I had a fire in the house *aiyaiyai* on the day I took this picture, but that will be for our skype convo.

This white iron bistro set John bought. He likes the one I have and he bought this white one for the back yard. Do you know? He bought a2nd set, another one for another part of the yard? And it was ALL HIS IDEA! I swear the garden was speaking to him because it was an inspired idea. He got rid of the two teak chairs and the metal mosaic table that was rusting, and replaced it with another beautiful white bistro set! The white is magical!...its exactly what the gardens needed. Now I'm going to be bringing more white touches to the yard.

I think the seashell on the white table is one of the most perfect things I've ever seen. I'm in love with it.

This is the other table....and a new conch sea shell...this pink drives me crazy.

This below is a picture from sitting at that table looking into the kitchen window....the sights so beautiful, the vine creeping over the screen, all the pretty glass with flowers and shells in them, the sparkly crystal chandelier was set on low....looking like candlelight....yes, I have it set on a dimer switch...! This pic didn't come out clear, but this picture has a je ne sais quoi aspect to it, that expressed something of what is here.

A picture of the kitchen table from inside. Croissants in the cloche, and sunflowers with begonia flowers over the Fairy lady......lace curtains.....so much beauty.

A snippet from my room where I keep my jewelry in a small apothecary jar....and a crystal pedant I wear.

My bindi's on a flat gemstone.

A large angel who I painted a bit so you can see her features. She wears a bindi too and my lip gloss LOL!!

I'm very into seashells lately....again.....and this large one sits in front of my Himalayan Salt Crystal lamp so it glows from the inside. The artwork is something magical and haunting from an artist from a Renaissance Faire.

Snippets from the shelf where I keep the Fairy collection.

see the sleeping fairy under the gold 'blanket' with a pillow?

A Himalayan Salt crystal tea light holder lit with sea shells around it....its beautiful.....no? or is it just me??

When I moved to Florida 15 years ago, I vowed that now that I lived in a warm climate, I'd do like the Tahitian and Pacific Island women do and wear flowers in the hair every day. I was born with some ancient love for the Pacific Islands like Tahiti and Bora Bora for some reason and as a florist and gardener I adore wearing nature in my hair. It is why I went to Bali after I had my accident....I felt acutely my mortality, and thought this ''now'' moment was the only one I had to live my dream and to see those places. Bali was amazing and magical.

So, nine years ago when I moved onto this property I planted a bunch of hibiscus bushes to have flowers all the time because when I saw how they do them in Bali, I thought it was the most beautiful thing ever. They literally put flowers especially red hibiscus in everything, all the stone statues, everywhere that will hold a flower. I will never forget it. So when I got onto this property I planted them in all colors.

The large lavender flower is silk, the others are real begonias.....I had an ostrich feather I cleaned from fire soot, and couldn't find a place for it quick enough, so I stuck it in my hair....LOL....it's almost exactly the same color!

Jasmine in my hair, which is why I also planted that when I moved here. I smell them all day in my hair.

One of my favorite plants, lysimachia...it grows drapey....which I love.

A Shooting Star bush died, strangled by the grape vine tendrils, and I took it down.....it just cracked off, and as John and I looked at it, he began to look at the wood beneath the bark and saw it was pretty. I loved the bark too....so I peeled it all and collected it in a copper basket, and found the wood grain beautiful and that it actually was a natural piece of artwork.....I found a place for it under the Mango Tree with the bromeliad garden....isn't it beautiful ? so architectural?

A blurry view from the inside of the computer room out to the living room.

These flowers are a deeper purple than this picture shows.....but I love the green moss on the pot!

The pond is also doing very well again, and John bought some baby goldfish, which you can see here.

And lastly, a gossamer tiny spiderweb I found this morning, and I thought of you Pammie, and took this pic.

Friday, March 16, 2012

The term ''brothers and sisters of sorrow'' comes from the RA material. It is described as such: ''its desire is service to others with the distortion towards reaching their hand, figuratively, to any entities who call for aid. these entities whom you may call the brothers and sisters of sorrow move toward this calling of sorrow.
these entities are from all reaches of the infinite creation and are bound together by the desire to serve in this distortion.''

I don't agree with their term and use of the word ''distortion''....it is far to bereft a description, severely incomplete and devoid of feeling. I think ''nightmare'' is more accurate.
We are called, we come. As one of these members of the grieving, I must say, that we not only respond ....but we feel the sorrow most deeply ourselves for all that we see, hear and feel.

Today was a strangely sorrowful day. I can not name what is the cause, but all of that which I can think of. In the silent moments of no thoughts, I felt it all. It could have rent me to my knees.
So much needs correcting on this planet. Some times I feel, I am not enough. Of course this is not true. I just wish I could see better outcomes.

I am getting tired. My spirit feels etiolated from years of this place, stretched beyond limits of substance.

We have a fireplace in this old cottage. It gets used maybe once or twice during the year. We live in Florida. When the day comes where its cold enough for a fire, its like a Christmas day. The fires are beautiful, relaxing, hypnotizing muses, and I love them. But here, 99% of the time, the fireplace is not used, and I have to get creative in finding ways to make an unused fireplace look like more than just a blackened ashy pit. This picture is with a flash and the overhead lighting on which I never use so it is much brighter, no sense in showing you a picture of just a dark pit.

I have grand ideas for it, but the cost is not feasible at this time. So again, I had to find a way to make it look nice without the $, with what I had, and to be able to keep it that way regularly. I remember I had put some cuttings of white plumbago in a vase in there and it was beautiful, but then again, almost anything is better than a black ashy pit. :D
So I went ahead and began cleaning it out, and yes I did sing the song Chim Chiminy Chim Chiminy Chim Chim Cheru .

I decided on simple, which always works. A vase of white flowers with candles using what glass I had around doing nothing, and added candles of what was on hand. I added some shimmery silvery 6 inch ribbon to 2 of the vases for a nice glow. But this is it for now. By the time I was done, the light coming through the chimney lit the floor of the fireplace which was nice.

Find someone who traces the lines in your hands just to feel close to you, and someone who believes the ocean is trapped in your eyes. Find someone who loves the bones in your body and loves the skin that you live in. Find someone who will help you love yourself. ~ (k.b.g)